The overall objective of this research is to study the role of water in systems of biological significance. Systems which will be studied will include solutions of proteins, carbohydrates, (or soluble model compounds in some instances) and various protein denaturants. In the latter case, an attempt will be made to correlate the effectiveness of the denaturant with its effect on water structure. It is expected that techniques may be perfected which will permit the observation of water in cell tissue, which has been referred to as "biowater". Near infrared spectroscopy has been found to be a powerful tool in measuring changes in the degree of hydrogen bonding of water upon the addition of solutes and procedures which have been developed for aqueous solutions will be applied to the above mentioned systems. Partial molal heat capacities will also be determined for some of the solutes since this is also a useful indicator of the effect of solutes on water structure.